THE VALUE OF OBSERVATION 31 



of my early schooling on the stream was never 

 to remain long in one place. I was taught to 

 believe that if a rise was not effected on the 

 first few casts subsequent effort on that water 

 was wasted that the trout would take the fly 

 at once or not at all. I clung to this belief for 

 years, until one day I saw a fine fish lying in 

 shallow water and took him after casting a 

 dozen or more times. Since then I have taken 

 fish after upward of fifty casts, and I rarely 

 abandon an attempt for one that I can see if 

 I feel certain that it has not discovered me. 

 Even when I have not actually seen a fish, but 

 have known or believed one to be lying near by, 

 the practice has proven effective. Thus I have 

 had the satisfaction of accomplishing a thing 

 once believed to be impossible; but I have 

 gained more than that: I have learned to be 

 persevering and, what is still more important, 

 deliberate. The man who hurries through a 

 trout stream defeats himself. Not only does he 

 take few fish but he has no time for observation, 

 and his experience is likely to be of little value 

 to him. 



The beginner must learn to look with eyes 

 that see. Occurrences of apparently little im- 

 portance at the moment may, after considera- 



